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Monday, September 29, 2014

Easy Gluten-free Bread Flour Blend

I have been working to provide my readers and customers with some flour blend recipes so they can enjoy high-quality, home-cooked, gluten-free baked goods. I have been trying to come up with some flour blends that are easy to make, take few ingredients, and are delicious as well.

I use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flours for my breads. They are easy to find here in Portland, Oregon. However, I chose this group of flours because they should be easy to find and inexpensive in many parts of the world. If you try this blend with other brands of flour, please let me know how it works for you!

Easy Gluten-free Bread Flour Blend

30g whole psyllium husk
-OR-20g Finely Ground Psyllium Husk
For freshness, I grind my own psyllium husk in a coffee grinder for 7 seconds.What I do with my flour blends is make a large batch of 10x or 20x a single recipe and store it in a food bin, which I label with the flour blend type. I buy my food bins at a local Portland restaurant supply store, Rose's Equipment. You can also buy these online at Amazon (be sure to also order the lid).

Once the blend is mixed thoroughly, I scoop out how much I need per recipe and measure by weight (135g per cup). This makes cooking gluten free so much faster when I don't have to weigh each type of flour for every recipe!

Kelly - I am still working on developing a new flour blend for the scones. I used to sell a flour for it, but it was complicated to make so I am reluctant to publish the original recipe. As soon as I successfully simplify the GF All-Purpose Flour Blend I'll publish it here on the blog!

Thanks for the props! I haven't found a substitute for psyllium that can work the same way on its own. Psyllium is just a really strong binder that gels nicely and is very workable, like traditional dough. Flax seed has some of that property to it but it's not as strong. Xanthan gum can work on its own but doesn't make the dough kneadable. I bet a combination of xanthan gum and flax seed could give you shapeable dough, but I don't have exact amounts. Sorry I don't have a recipe for you! This is something I'll work on formulating if I decide to create a cookbook. In the meantime, have you checked out my teff bread recipe? No psyllium! http://glutenfreegourmand.blogspot.com/2011/10/best-teff-sandwich-bread-recipe.html

Hi Gina, I am just getting into GF flour blends, and also been researching alternatives to xantham gum. I found that you use psyillium, Yay!, and also found out some are using Glucomannon (konjac root) I have both and will be experimenting. Now, a question, I have all of the flours except millet, can I use brown rice in place of that, until my millet arrives? Thanks so much!! Kat

Hi Kattgatt - Thanks for the comment. I have not heard of konjac root before - that sounds intriguing!

For the bread flour blend, I do not recommend substituting anything with brown rice flour, or any kind of rice flour. I have not had success any time I've tried to incorporate a little rice flour into this blend. It's just too heavy. What I would do if I didn't have millet is try just using more potato and tapioca flours, in equal weights, and omit the millet. Just a caution that I've not tried the blend this way and so I don't know exactly how well it will work. My flour blends are kind of touchy - sometimes I'll change the proportions slightly and it doesn't work as well. There seems to be a pretty delicate balancing act going on with the textures of the flours. If you want to try a different flour blend that doesn't involve millet, I do have one that uses teff flour instead. You can find that blend in the Vegan Teff Sandwich Bread recipe: http://glutenfreegourmand.blogspot.com/2015/09/vegan-teff-sandwich-bread-recipe.html

Gina thank you for quickly answering! I am going to make your Teff bread, I am still waiting on my teff (happy face). I will purchase some millet then, as you are so knowlegeable, I trust your answer. And I have been using the Glucomannon (Konjac root), You can use it straight across for xantham gum. It is very versatile fiber, completely and very quickly dissolves in water. And it is non-ionic, so it is stable with salt in recipes. Try it and thanks sooo much for your awesome site!!

AshDe - if you can get white buckwheat flour, that is really great for bread. The dark flour is good too, but it sucks up a lot of moisture in the dough and it has a much stronger flavor. Either way you may have to adjust the hydration levels of the recipes, or the proportions of the flours.

I don't have any recipes on here that call for a stiff starter - I have used one in the past but it was tricky to maintain. But yes, if you are using a starter with a different hydration level than the recipe, you can just adjust accordingly, but it takes some calculation. Keep in mind that the you have to adjust the amount of flour in the recipe as well as the water. The weight amount of starter may also change. You will have to do some experimenting, I think, before you get everything working together right.

Cornstarch will probably be a really good substitution for the tapioca. I have not had good luck using brown rice flour for bread - it really weighs the bread down and inhibits rising. Just sorghum, or sorghum and teff, is better.

I tried making a traditional starter. I did get it to bubble and rise, but I could not get the bread to be sour. So, if sourness isn't important, or if you have better luck than I do, the traditional method of making a starter could be really fun! I've stuck with my three-day method because you get a usable starter in so much less time, and it uses much less flour. People have certainly had success with other methods, though.